Not so much with the Tetris for Trauma
June 10, 2025 9:36 AM Subscribe
Should Tetris be taught to children in schools? Is it really just a crisis of funding that prevents kids from knowing that Tetris could heal their trauma? Is Tetris “literally a trauma first aid kit”? What does the evidence show?
Tetris for Trauma
This seems like a pretty thorough debunking of the idea I've seen promoted, that a quick game of tetris after a potentially traumatic event can significantly help with the aftereffects of that trauma.
Not necessarily relevant for this particular article, but I noticed that this site, Mad in America, has a lot of articles that challenge the efficacy of psychiatric medication. Their mission satement is:
Mad in America’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care in the United States (and abroad). We believe that the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society, and that scientific research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change.
This seems like a pretty thorough debunking of the idea I've seen promoted, that a quick game of tetris after a potentially traumatic event can significantly help with the aftereffects of that trauma.
Not necessarily relevant for this particular article, but I noticed that this site, Mad in America, has a lot of articles that challenge the efficacy of psychiatric medication. Their mission satement is:
Mad in America’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care in the United States (and abroad). We believe that the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society, and that scientific research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change.
Oh this is interesting! I literally suggested this today in AskMe so if it's not good advice I'm glad to be aware of that.
posted by an octopus IRL at 10:43 AM on June 10 [2 favorites]
posted by an octopus IRL at 10:43 AM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Sorry, hit post too soon -- that said, in the current environment I am extremely wary of anyone preaching against psychiatric medications, some of which I need to survive. With people like RFK Jr. promoting things like work/exercise and diet for managing psychiatric issues I kind of side-eye people of whatever political persuasion who think we have too much psychiatric medication. Of course other things (including exercise) can be beneficial but there's a big push right now to take psychiatric medications away from people who need them.
posted by an octopus IRL at 10:48 AM on June 10 [8 favorites]
posted by an octopus IRL at 10:48 AM on June 10 [8 favorites]
Don't know if it's true, but Mad in America has been accused of being a front for Scientology.
posted by Umami Dearest at 10:50 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
posted by Umami Dearest at 10:50 AM on June 10 [3 favorites]
The biggest factor in how someone does after a traumatic event is support. Especially for children. Other things might be useful, certianly skills education, therapy, groups, general belief that the child is being heard and listened to. But number one factor is going and has always been support. Sometimes support isn't enough. But any intervention without parental/guardian support in isolation isn't going to magically make things better.
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:51 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:51 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
The Twitter thread, posted on October 7 by TV writer Jelena Woehr
Me personally, I'm not trying to get mental health treatment advice from a TV writer.
But I did RTFA and I said to myself, "Self," I said, "This is horseshit. This is like telling someone to read Chicken Soup for the Soul."
While I agree that current mental health treatment is far too dependent on meds (thanks, Big Health Insurance), I also believe psych meds do help some people. I'm one of them.
posted by scratch at 10:57 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
Me personally, I'm not trying to get mental health treatment advice from a TV writer.
But I did RTFA and I said to myself, "Self," I said, "This is horseshit. This is like telling someone to read Chicken Soup for the Soul."
While I agree that current mental health treatment is far too dependent on meds (thanks, Big Health Insurance), I also believe psych meds do help some people. I'm one of them.
posted by scratch at 10:57 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
I think psych meds do help some people, and also that such help is not because mental illness is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.
The analogy I've read that I like is that aspirin helps with a headache, but headaches are not caused by an aspirin deficit in the brain.
Thanks for this article. Mad in America is doing some really great work.
posted by lapis at 11:05 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
The analogy I've read that I like is that aspirin helps with a headache, but headaches are not caused by an aspirin deficit in the brain.
Thanks for this article. Mad in America is doing some really great work.
posted by lapis at 11:05 AM on June 10 [5 favorites]
The Baffler ran an article a few years back that discusses Mad in America and its overlap with Scientology.
Vice also ran a piece about Mad in America in 2020. This one's overall positive and downplays the connection to CCHR.
Regardless of whether they are organizationally affiliated with Scientology (signs point to no), it's very clear that some of their bloggers have been, and also that they consider themselves to be fellow-travellers with CCHR which absolutely IS controlled by Scientology.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:26 AM on June 10 [8 favorites]
Vice also ran a piece about Mad in America in 2020. This one's overall positive and downplays the connection to CCHR.
Regardless of whether they are organizationally affiliated with Scientology (signs point to no), it's very clear that some of their bloggers have been, and also that they consider themselves to be fellow-travellers with CCHR which absolutely IS controlled by Scientology.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:26 AM on June 10 [8 favorites]
While I agree that current mental health treatment is far too dependent on meds (thanks, Big Health Insurance), I also believe psych meds do help some people. I'm one of them.
Me too. Meds have been a huge help in my schizophrenic brother’s life.
I think psych meds are an important pillar in a (hypothetical) functioning mental health system. In a way it’s the easiest pillar — prescribing meds is easier than solving a person’s issues around being unhoused, or unsupported, or capitalism in general. I think since our mental health system is a fucking wreck, it’s a tempting solution to say, tear down that one standing pillar. It’s the only thing we can really tear down, and since the roof is already on the floor, it’s an easy target. But we need more pillars to hold that roof up, not less.
posted by Rinku at 12:32 PM on June 10 [8 favorites]
Me too. Meds have been a huge help in my schizophrenic brother’s life.
I think psych meds are an important pillar in a (hypothetical) functioning mental health system. In a way it’s the easiest pillar — prescribing meds is easier than solving a person’s issues around being unhoused, or unsupported, or capitalism in general. I think since our mental health system is a fucking wreck, it’s a tempting solution to say, tear down that one standing pillar. It’s the only thing we can really tear down, and since the roof is already on the floor, it’s an easy target. But we need more pillars to hold that roof up, not less.
posted by Rinku at 12:32 PM on June 10 [8 favorites]
I think psych meds do help some people, and also that such help is not because mental illness is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.
The analogy I've read that I like is that aspirin helps with a headache, but headaches are not caused by an aspirin deficit in the brain.
This is a silly analogy. There are countless protocols/medicines used to treat things that aren't about restoring a deficit of a particular chemical in the body. Cancer doesn't grow because one's body is low on chemotherapy.
The causes of mental illness are numerous and complicated and are frequently a convergence of genetic, biological, psychological, environmental and social factors. That said, something such as serotonin deficiency is a real thing and for some people, SSRIs are somewhat to very effective.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:27 PM on June 10 [6 favorites]
oneirodynia: "That said, something such as serotonin deficiency is a real thing and for some people, SSRIs are somewhat to very effective."
It's not a real thing, though. That's what the linked article talks about, and there have been a lot of articles in various places debunking the serotonin deficit model. It was a marketing ploy by pharmaceutical companies and was never actually true.
posted by lapis at 2:34 PM on June 10 [5 favorites]
It's not a real thing, though. That's what the linked article talks about, and there have been a lot of articles in various places debunking the serotonin deficit model. It was a marketing ploy by pharmaceutical companies and was never actually true.
posted by lapis at 2:34 PM on June 10 [5 favorites]
And again, I'm not saying SSRIs (and SNRIs) aren't effective. I'm saying that there's no evidence that depression is caused by a serotonin deficit, or that a serotonin deficit is a thing that's even possible to have.
posted by lapis at 2:35 PM on June 10 [5 favorites]
posted by lapis at 2:35 PM on June 10 [5 favorites]
Pinning the "chemical imbalance" myth (and implicitly other unscientific common knowledge) on dastardly anti-psychiatrists is an overprotestation. Like what, did the people conducting the bunk studies about tetris and trauma fake their PhDs? And the core claim of anti-psychiatrists, overwhelmingly informed by personal experience, is that therapists and other psychiatric professionals have wide latitude to just wing it based on their own biases and gut instincts regardless of what is scientifically proven. Pointing out that the science disproves those myths doesn't really rebut that argument!
posted by jy4m at 3:11 PM on June 10 [1 favorite]
posted by jy4m at 3:11 PM on June 10 [1 favorite]
I've been recommending anti-trauma Tetris to friends since the original study, so this is embarrassing to me personally. The failure to replicate is the last nail in the coffin, though.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:40 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:40 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Tetris used to give me anxiety. Anything with accelerating tasks that require intense focus usually does.
Do you know what helps my anxiety? An SSRI.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:19 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
Do you know what helps my anxiety? An SSRI.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:19 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]
"Self," I said, "This is horseshit. This is like telling someone to read Chicken Soup for the Soul."
Scratch, thank you. I kind gagged out while reading the article and only read every three words of the last 1/3. I was skeptical of the Tetris theory from the get-go. Sounded more like a keep busy and don't dwell on it solution at a time when human contact and support is what's called for. Maybe I'm old and cynical, but I find it hard to believe that any real mental healing will come out of a computer program. I'm not seeing much mental hygiene online at this point.
Seems like this should be a time when we find out wonderful things about the health of the mind and how the mind and body are linked. Instead, thanks to TFG and his moron minions what little mental health care this country has been flushed down the toilet.
I'm on lamotragine for bipolar disorder. The primary use is seizure control, and many doctors don't know that, so I've gotten crap about using off label (It's not.) How they don't think it work for bipolar (It does.) How I don't even have bipolar (I do.) Their considered recommendation is that I practice mindfulness and self-control (F*ck off.) And bipolar really doesn't exist (Did you even go to med school?) I won't even discuss it anymore. I just leave and find someone else. Despite what the fascists say, there are pharmaceuticals that are necessary for some people's continued health. Hopefully there will always be a doctor to prescribe it and insurance that will cover it.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:13 PM on June 10 [3 favorites]
Scratch, thank you. I kind gagged out while reading the article and only read every three words of the last 1/3. I was skeptical of the Tetris theory from the get-go. Sounded more like a keep busy and don't dwell on it solution at a time when human contact and support is what's called for. Maybe I'm old and cynical, but I find it hard to believe that any real mental healing will come out of a computer program. I'm not seeing much mental hygiene online at this point.
Seems like this should be a time when we find out wonderful things about the health of the mind and how the mind and body are linked. Instead, thanks to TFG and his moron minions what little mental health care this country has been flushed down the toilet.
I'm on lamotragine for bipolar disorder. The primary use is seizure control, and many doctors don't know that, so I've gotten crap about using off label (It's not.) How they don't think it work for bipolar (It does.) How I don't even have bipolar (I do.) Their considered recommendation is that I practice mindfulness and self-control (F*ck off.) And bipolar really doesn't exist (Did you even go to med school?) I won't even discuss it anymore. I just leave and find someone else. Despite what the fascists say, there are pharmaceuticals that are necessary for some people's continued health. Hopefully there will always be a doctor to prescribe it and insurance that will cover it.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:13 PM on June 10 [3 favorites]
The article touches on it, but I'm interested in the overlap between EMDR and this tetris trauma therapy idea. Unlike tetris, EMDR is a thing that works. But we don't seem to know why. Maybe the reason the "play tetris after traume" idea feels promising is because it's superficially similar to EMDR?
I think at the moment, we simply don't know enough about how the brain works, and how humans work, to be able to make confident statements in either direction. We can just see how the shadow moves on the wall, and make guesses about what's casting it.
The reason I highlighted that Mad in America has a strong anti psych med stand is because the way they go about it raised a red flag for me. I'm just as skeptical of a person who is absolutely sure that something works, as I am of someone who is absolutely sure why it doesn't work.
SSRIs and SNRIs did not work for me, but I'm not sure why, and that makes me dig my heels in when my friends once again trot out the platitudes about "isn't it better that you're dealing with things without having to use drugs!"
posted by Zumbador at 3:16 AM on June 11 [2 favorites]
I think at the moment, we simply don't know enough about how the brain works, and how humans work, to be able to make confident statements in either direction. We can just see how the shadow moves on the wall, and make guesses about what's casting it.
The reason I highlighted that Mad in America has a strong anti psych med stand is because the way they go about it raised a red flag for me. I'm just as skeptical of a person who is absolutely sure that something works, as I am of someone who is absolutely sure why it doesn't work.
SSRIs and SNRIs did not work for me, but I'm not sure why, and that makes me dig my heels in when my friends once again trot out the platitudes about "isn't it better that you're dealing with things without having to use drugs!"
posted by Zumbador at 3:16 AM on June 11 [2 favorites]
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...Hatetris?
posted by genpfault at 10:27 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]